At present the number of neuropathic patients suffering from affection of the locomotor functions becomes immense, while infantile cerebral paralysis, in particular, tends to rise, for a number of reasons, in many countries throughout the world.
Treatment of motor functions in infantile cerebral paralysis patients becomes urgent due to both, the number of patients and imperfection of the treatment method available.
The present state of the medical art knows a number of methods and devices for treatment of patients with disturbed posture and motor activity.
One state-of-the-art method for treatment of patients with disturbed posture and motor activity (cf. "Surgical correction of posture and walking in infantile cerebral paralysis" by A. M. Zhuravlev et al., 1986, Aiastan Publishers, Yerevan, pp. 90-91 (in Russian) is known to comprise stage-by-stage plastering, followed by rigidly fixing the position of the limb and trunk with an altered posture. A disadvantage inherent in said method resides in a restricted motor activity (immobility) of a patient, which might result in amyotrophy, spastic phenomena, and increased hypertensive syndrome due to enhanced pathological muscular synergies.
Furthermore, another disadvantage of said object is a prolonged treatment period, that is, from 4 to 6 months.
One state-of-the-art device for treatment of patients with disturbed posture and motor activity is known (FR, A, 2,120,500) to appear as overalls into which flexible inflatable tubes are inserted to impart rigidity thereto.
A disadvantage inherent in said device is the fact that it is aimed at maintaining the patient's body in a definite position, whereby the field of application of said device is extremely restricted. In addition, said device fails to solve the problem of muscular exercises of a patient, which might lead to profound dysfunction of the muscular system.
Another device for treatment of patients with disturbed posture and motor activity is known (FR, A, 2,252,836) to comprise two blades interposed between the patient's thighs, each of said blades being fixed to a respective thigh, and a mechanical system connected to the blades.
The device under discussion suffers from the disadvantage that it can correct only a wrong position of the thighs, knee joints, and feet. In addition, said device is bulky and therefore its application with therapeutic purposes is very questionable.
One more device for treatment of patients with disturbed posture and motor activity is known (SU, A, 1,528,483) to comprise a thoracic, pelvic, and pedal support, and fixing elements to interconnect the aforesaid supports to one another.
The fixing elements are shaped are telescopic stands interconnecting the pedal supports with the pelvic one and with a bar one of whose ends is rigidly coupled to the pelvic support. The bar carries a roller reciprocatingly mounted thereon and rigidly linked to the thoracic support. Two arms are rigidly connected to the pelvic support, the free ends of said arms being connected to springs movably mounted on the telescopic stands.
With the patient's body in the erect position the roller provides a light reclinating effect produced on the entire vertebral column, while the thoracis support provides rest for the upper trunk portion. With an inclined position of the trunk the roller rides over the bar depending on the angle of inclination so as to assume an optimum position, and the springs impart an effort to the bar. Thus, the weight of the inclined trunk portion is compensated for and the muscular system and vertebral column are released from load.
A disadvantage of the abovesaid device consists in that it is intended for treatment of the vertebral column only by releasing it from load. In addition, use of said device might result in restricted mobility of a patient followed by amyotrophy and affected activity of the antigravity muscles. Above all the treatment process with the use of said device is too prolonged.